SafetyNet 269

SafetyNet 269,24 October, 2013

We apologise to
those subscribers who were unable to access the last edition due to
'potentially offensive language' – female doctors being harassed is certainly
offensive! Hopefully we won't have the same problem this edition.We're battling
to get a good number 'following' us on Twitter (@OHSreps) – so please do
consider this…

WorkSafe Victoria AwardsSafetyNet was at the WorkSafe Week Awards ceremony
yesterday, at The Peninsula at Docklands. It was a 'gala' event with awards
handed out under a range of categories. Winners in those categories which
mostly closely affect HSRs:Excellence in health and safety
management (recognising
individuals who have made an exceptional difference to workplace health and
safety): Phyllip Bix - Grampians Region Prisons. Phyllip was a 'boner' in the
meat industry, and an active member of the AMIEU as well as being an HSR when
was seriously injured and was unable to continue his work. With the assistance
of the union in pursuing his workers' compensation claim, Phyllip was able to
retrain and now works as a professional in OHS.Health and safety committee of the year: Zoos Victoria – Healesville. The team
at Healesville Sanctuary plays a central role in ensuring 'safety first' at
their workplace.

Health and safety representative of the
year: JeddaMcGlinchey –
Ambulance Victoria (Melbourne). Jedda is
an active member of the AEAV (Victoria's
Ambulance Union) and has had a hard, though ultimately successful, year or so
in which she fought for and achieved a great outcome for her DWG. There were a
multitude of problems with their Ambulance station such as insufficient
sleeping quarters and issues to do with safety.

And finally: a
surprise Awards – our own Cathy Butcher was announced as the 2013 recipient of
the Award for Outstanding Leadership and Contribution to Health and Safety.
WorkSafe decided some time ago that they would not give this Award out every
year – only when it was felt that there was someone who truly deserved it – and
Cathy certainly does!Read more about the winners, the
finalists and check out the pics

Remembering Victoria's
worst workplace tragedy: West
Gate Bridge
collapseThe ceremony organised by
the West Gate Memorial Committee on the 43rdanniversary of Victoria's most serious workplace tragedywas held at
11.30am, October 15 at the West
Gate Memorial
Park Monument,
under the Bridge at Hyde St,
Spotswood.At 11.50 everyone stopped to remember those who died with a minute's
silence. Renata spoke to some of those present: survivors, the family of
someone who was killed, and someone who lived locally and remembers it vividly.Read more: West
Gate Bridge
Collapse Anniversary 2013

Queensland
OHS Right of Entry conditions changes – politically motivated?As reported(SafetyNet 268), the ACTU is concerned
that the changes mooted by Queensland's Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to
force union officials to give 24 hours' notice prior to entering a workplace on
suspected OHS breaches will put workers' lives at risk. The debate over whether unions use OHS issues as an excuse for
industrial relations action is an old one: in the report following his review
of the 1985 Victorian OHS Act Chris Maxwell while noting 'widespread perception
amongst employers that unions misuse the provisions of OHSA to achieve other
industrial objectives', concluded: 'Occupational health and safety is, by
definition, an industrial issue, since it is necessarily concerned with the
conditions of work.' He then quoted an employer who said, 'A safe workplace is
the first industrial relations issue you'd like to get right.'(para869). Once
again, Kevin Jones, in his SafetyAtWork
blog, has an interesting article which considers in more detail the reasons
and the politics behind Bleijie's arguments.The Maxwell Report can be downloaded here. SafetyAtWork Blog: OHS as an industrial relations tool

Last week the Queensland government
also announced changes to its workers compensation scheme, including the
introduction of a new threshold for common law claims. While the changes appear
to be in line with what business wanted, media reports are that more than 80
per cent of Queenslanders do not want to see their system tampered with. The Brisbane Times: Most Queenslanders
against WorkCover changes and Queensland
WorkCover changes will limit claims

Asbestos newsDocumentary: The Making of DUSTThe notion of a
musical theatre show about asbestos seems highly unlikely - but the genius of
the "Dust" project is that it adopts a playful andcounter-intuitive approach to
tell engaging stories about this pervasive and persistent poison. The result is
an unconventional show with a whole lot of different elements: songs, sideshow performances,
real-life testimonies, films, sculpture, and even some hairdressing. There are
stories of suffering and stories of righteous outrage, but there arealso plenty
of surprising comic moments. And, accompanied by a large community choir, Mark
Seymour performs a suite of powerful songs that are at the heart of the show.

Don't miss this
half-hour documentary film which presents its own artful, constructed, and
playful interpretation of the "Dust" show, stepping in and out of the
theatricalaction and providing critical context for the parts of the show we
see on screen. Ultimately, like the theatre show around which it's based,
"Making Dust" is an acknowledgement of suffering, a plea for justice and a
tribute to human dignity and resilience.ABC1 Tuesday 26 November @ 10pm

You have one more day to support the Meso
Busters team – October 26 & 27Please consider
sponsoring the 'Meso Busters'cycling team in this weekend's Ride to Conquer Cancerevent which raises
money for research at the Peter Mac and promotes the awareness of safe asbestos
handling in the community. Go to www.conquercancer.org.au, choose'Melbourne', click on 'donate',
and then search for either the team or Shelley Mathews, who is the team captain
- then follow the prompts. All donations are tax deductible (receipt sent via
email).

ACT flags mandatory asbestos training,
suspends high-risk licenceUnder proposed
changes to the ACT's mirror WHS Act, all Territory construction workers, as
well as some workers in related industries, will be required to undergo
asbestos-awareness training. At the moment, 'PCBUs' (equivalent to 'the
employer' under the Victorian Act) are required to provide adequate information
and training to workers to enable them to identify asbestos, be aware of where
it is likely to be located, know what to do when it is found, and understand
its dangers, saysWorkSafe ACT. The
regulator is proposing that the new course, Asbestos Awareness 10314 NAT, will
be mandatory for all construction workers from early 2014.
Read more: WorkSafe's January 2013 guidance note [pdf].Source: OHSAlert

A-BAN: Asbestos use increasing in AsiaThe Asian Ban
Asbestos Network, or A-BAN, says governments in Asia are ignoring the dangers
of asbestos, and allowing the ongoing use of this deadly building
material.SugioFuruya, coordinator of A-BAN, told Radio Australia's Asia Pacificthat consumption in many
Asian countries is still on the rise, though countries like Japan, South Korea
and Australia have banned its use. 'Asbestos
consumption in Asia is accounting for 70 per
cent of global asbestos consumption,' Mr Furuya said. 'More than 90 per cent of
asbestos is used for construction materials and the people touching asbestos
are not informed about [its] hazard.'

Mr Furuya says
the material is being used in the construction of houses due to its low cost.He
says countries like India are intentionally ignoring the dangers of asbestos: 'There's
almost no regulation against asbestos in such countries and asbestos victims
are still invisible in many developing countries. [The Indian government] takes
no action to prevent people from asbestos exposure.' Mr Furuya said Australia could help Asian
countries stop using asbestos. 'Australia
has much experience and expertise to deal with asbestos...and can contribute...
to avoid an asbestos epidemic in the future.'Asia
Pacific Audio

Facing lawsuits over asbestos, paper
giant launched secretive research program. According to court
records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, when faced with more than
60,000 legal claims, the Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific company launched a
secret research program hoping to exonerate its product as a carcinogen. Under
its research program, Georgia-Pacific paid 18 scientists a collective US$6
million. These experts were directed by the company's longtime head of
toxicology, who was "specially employed" by in-house counsel to work on
asbestos litigation and was under orders to hold "in the strictest confidence"
all information generated.

This framework, similar
to the tobacco industry's tactics, allowed Georgia-Pacific to control the
science and claim all communications as privileged — not subject to discovery
in litigation. A New York
appeals court held recently that the communications "could have been in
furtherance of a fraud," an allegation the company has denied.Read more: Center for Public Integrity

France:
Thousands stage 'die-in' over asbestos risksThousands of
people staged a "die-in" in Paris
on Saturday 12 October over the failure by authorities to clear workplaces of
asbestos. The protesters from all over France
lay down in the street outside Sorbonne
University in Paris'
Latin Quarter to illustrate dramatically how
asbestos exposure claims 3,000 lives per year in the country. They had kicked
off the march at the Tour Montparnasse, one of the city's few tall buildings,
where inspectors have repeatedly found levels of asbestos contamination
exceeding allowable levels. Ten deaths
each day, with no one held responsible or found guilty, one poster read; For criminal proceedings on asbestosread
another in the march that ended at Paris's
main courthouse. The National Association of Victims of Asbestos (ANDEVA)
called the march, which was headed by relatives of victims of asbestos
exposure, mainly widows holding pictures of their husbands. The protest aims to
'show the public and political officials that the victims of asbestos are still
waiting for criminal proceedings,' ANDEVA said in a statement. 'It has been 17
years since we submitted the first complaints, and there has still not been a
criminal trial,' ANDEVA vice president Francois Desriaux told AFP. 'The
asbestos risk is not ancient history, it still exists today,' he said.Source: Risks 627 Read more: Google NewsRaw Story

Ask RenataMy DWG covers the administration and
office staff. I am concerned that we spend most of our day seated at the
computer. Some of my members are beginning to show signs of overuse injuries,
such as sore arms and shoulders. Do you have any suggestions?

You are right to be concerned. Apart from overuse
injuries (or RSI), there is also increasing evidence that sitting all day
negatively affects the health of workers: increased risk of obesity, diabetes
and more. The ACTU's Working Life website
recently published an interesting article An
Exercise in Office Improvisation which
provides seven 'helpful hints' to exercise while at work.

Pertinent to your question is Hint 7, for those
workers who may be at risk of developing an overuse injury due to excessive
keyboard work: Nose Typing. According to the article: 'Your hands are just two
of the many appendages you have at your disposal for typing. Strap a stylus to
your nose or the middle of your face with sticky-tape and tack, so you can type
out a memo while giving your RSI (repetitive strain injury) time to recover. As
an added bonus, you'll be strengthening the trapezius muscles in your neck and
shoulders, and improving flexibility in your spine. You might think this is a
bit of a nonsense suggestion, but remember that the nose-stylus has been around
since 2011. Originally invented to help you use your smartphone in the bath,
why not use it for some face exercise?'

For (more
serious) information on overuse injuries, see Strains and Sprains Please send any
OHS related queries in to 'Ask Renata'- your query will
be responded to as quickly as we can, within a couple of days at the latest.

Nurses and Midwives: at risk from sharps
injuriesNurses and
midwives suffer the highest rate of needlestick and sharps injuries among
Australian healthcare workers each year, according to the Australian Nursing
and Midwifery Federation (ANMF – previously the ANF). These remain the most
common and potentially most dangerous injuries facing nurses and midwives. ANMF
Federal Secretary Lee Thomas said while there are an estimated 180,000 reports
of needlestick and sharps injuries to nurses, midwives and other healthcare
workers occurring each year across the nation, the figure could actually be
much higher. 'With approximately half of all injuries not reported, this means
the actual number of injuries to nurses and other healthcare workers could be as
high as 36,000 cases a year,' she said. 'We're obviously very concerned about
the potential harm to nurses, exposing them to the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
and Hepatitis B or C.'

As part of
National Safe Work Australia month, the ANMF and the Alliance for Sharps Safety
and Needlestick Prevention in Healthcare have renewed calls for state and
federal jurisdictions to mandate the use of safety engineered devices
(SEMDs).The ANMF estimates it would cost $50 million to equip Australia's
public hospitals with safe needle use education and safety equipment but only a
small number of hospitals have introduced the safety devices.Read more: ANMF Media Release

Bangladeshi unionist
refused Australian visa because 'too poor'The
National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) had sought to bring out to Australia Monruzziman Masum,
to speak at several events during Anti-poverty Week about the plight of workers
and the labour movement in Bangladesh.
Masum was involved in the rescue operation at the Rana Plaza
factory collapse where over 1100 workers were killed, and in supporting workers
after the Gazipur factory fire (see below). He was due to report on these
terrible events and the appalling conditions under which many Bangladeshi
garment workers toil. However, Australian immigration officials have refused two
consecutive visa applications on the basis that he is 'too poor'.

The
second visa application included a number of documents with endorsements and
guarantees of financial support for the visit from Australian unions. But the
Australian Government noted that Masum, with only $46 in his bank account, was
just too poor to be granted entry to Australia - as apparently he may not have
enough incentive to go back home (despite his wife, his daughter, his work and
his union being in Dhaka).

Victorian
secretary of the NTEU, Dr Colin Long, said that it is bitterly ironic that
Masum's attendance at Anti-poverty Week events had been prevented because he is
too poor. 'Perhaps Masum's ability to speak first-hand about the exploitation
of workers was what the Australian government was most concerned about.
Australian citizens benefit from the cheap goods made in Asian countries, so we
think they should know more about the conditions under which those goods are
made,' Dr Long said.Read more: NTEU Media Release

Bangladesh: another tragic fire underlines importance of AccordOn
8 October, at least 9 people were killed in a factory fire at Aswad Composite
Mills of the Palmal Group in the Gazipur district near Dhaka.
IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union confirm their commitment to the
comprehensive 5-year plan of the Accord for Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh.The IndustriALL Bangladesh Council of trade union affiliates is
working to assist the humanitarian relief effort following the fire that also
injured a reported 50. The joint IBC team is working with both the families of
the victims and the injured workers. This effort will coordinate with the
labour ministry and the employer associations BGMEA and BKMEA.Read more: IndustriALL Media Release

The International Labour
Organization (ILO) and the Government of Bangladesh launched a new programme to
improve working conditions in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh this week (22 October) in Dhaka. The three-and-a-half year initiative, developed in
collaboration with government, employers' and workers' representatives, in
response to a number of industrial accidents in the sector, will focus on
improving RMG factory building safety and workers' rights and conditions in
Bangladesh.It will build on work already underway in the country since the
Tazreen factory fire in 2012 and Rana Plaza building collapse almost six months
ago in which over 1,100 workers lost their lives.Read more: ILO Media Release

Transport Workers Union
calls on Coles to 'Stop squeeze on safety'The
TWU is asking supporters what the pricetag should be on a safe workplace? The union says Coles made $1.53 billion in
profit in the 2012-13 financial year. $1.53 billion; and Managing Director Ian
McLeod took home an unbelievable $10.74 million in the same period.

But according
to the union, the workers who help the company achieve these enormous profits
are left dangling at the end of the supply chain, with Coles' cost-cutting
leading to unfair and unsafe working conditions. It says Coles has refused to improve safety
in its supply chain:

Truck drivers on Australian roads are forced to push the limits by speeding, skipping breaks and essential truck maintenance due to Coles' deadly demands on transport operators.

Coles has been a vocal opponent of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, a forum dedicated to the road transport industry that will make binding rulings to protect the safety of all drivers across Australia.

It doesn't stop on our home turf either. Bengali workers have spoken out about the intense pressure to cut costs put on them by huge Australian retailers like Coles following the horrific collapse of the Rana Plaza Factory in Bangladesh in April, when over 1,100 people lost their lives.

The
TWU is asking the public to tell Coles to stop the squeeze on Safety by sending a messageto the person who calls the
shots on the company's operations: Managing Director Ian McLeod.Source: TWU Safe Rates Coles campaign

Workers protest over bullyingMore
than 200 workers at the Linfox Coles Truganina site have protested against a
culture of bullying at their work. The workers held the protest outside their
work. The protest received a high level of media coverage. Workers spoke about
their experiences of being sworn at and verbally abused by managers.One worker,
Penny Palmer, told journalists she had been sacked by Linfox after she was s**ually
bullied. She said she had received
similar treatment from another worker but was too frightened to report the
abuse for fear of losing her casual job.A witness reported the bullying to
management, but managers decided to sack both the bully and Penny. Workers
are asking for Penny to be reinstated and for all bullying to be properly
investigated and dealt with.

The
protest came after workers filed many official complaints of bullying against a
manager and more than 300 workers signed a petition asking for Linfox to
properly address bullying at the site. The National Union of Workers says that two workers - health and safety
representative, Ken, and fellow delegate, Michael – have been stood down for
speaking to the media about the bullying.Read more: NUW news website; The Age

Prison assault rates increasingConfirming fears
expressed by the prison officers union, the CPSU as reported in SafetyNet 266self-harm and
assaults in Victoria's
prisons are is at the highest rate in five years. Asked whether increased
incarceration rates had contributed to the high rates of prison assaults,
Corrections Minister Edward O'Donohue said the Coalition had 'made no secret of
the fact Victoria's prison system is coming under pressure in several different
ways, not least capacity pressures'. He blamed
such pressures 'and whatever problems may be resulting from them' on the
opposition.

Shadow
corrections Minister Jill Hennessy said that overpopulated prisons had created
a 'fertile environment' for violence. She said the Coalition's failure to
invest in crime prevention and in prison health services had also contributed
to high assault rates.Read more: The Age

Hundreds plead with government to save
lives; those to blame beg for scrutinyWhen a plumber perched on the rooftop
of a skyscraper clips a safety harness onto the point that anchors him to the
building, there's a one-in-three chance the anchor itself is unsafe.

The Working At Heights Association
(WAHA), which represents fall prevention equipment installers, sent a call to
action submission to the Heads Of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA). It
follows an industry crisis summit held last month where hundreds demanded urgent
action from governments. The summit was facilitated by OHS lawyer, Michael
Tooma, and speakers included OHS commentator and author of the SafetyAtWork
Blog, Kevin Jones

Australians who maintain roof-top
plant like air-conditioners routinely hook their safety harness systems onto
roof anchors embedded in a building's structure. The anchors are designed to
prevent, or arrest, falls but of the 3245 roof safety anchors audited by WAHA
members over the previous three months, one in three (31 per cent) was deemed
unusable. No formal qualifications are required of installers, who are able to
certify and fit compliance plates to their own work.

At the end of the summit there was
overwhelming support for WAHA put the following to policy makers:

The safety of Australia's fall prevention equipment installations must be improved;

Compliance with Australian Standards for fall prevention equipment should be compulsory;

Formal training for fall prevention equipment installers should be mandatory;

Near miss incidents linked to controllers' workloadAccording
to a report released this week by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau
(ATSB), high workload, inexperience and fatigue in air-traffic controllers were
contributing factors in two serious near misses involving planes operating from
Perth Airport.Factors that contributed to the controllers' high workload
included having to communicate with flight crews and other controllers for a 'significant
proportion' of their shift, and having to manage a trainee controller, who
asked questions and made frequent observations.

The
first incident, on November 8, 2011, occurred over Ceduna in South
Australia between a Virgin Blue 737 flying from Perth
to Brisbane and
a Qantas 737 going from Port Hedland to Melbourne.The planes were on converging
tracks at 39,000ft when the longitudinal separation standard of 37km was
infringed.

In
the other incident, on January 18 last year, there was a near miss north-west
of Karratha between an Airbus A320, of Tiger Airways operating from Singapore to Perth
and an Etihad Airways Airbus A340-600 flying from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.It was estimated that the
planes missed each other by two minutes.

The
ATSB report said employers can improve safety either by reducing heavy
workloads, or ensuring workers with high job demands have the right experience
and skills to manage them. In response to the incidents, AirservicesAustralia has
changed the configuration, training and rostering arrangements of controllers
for the sectors involved. Further, it is claimed a new radar in northern WA has
alleviated controller workload and enhanced surveillance.Sources:OHSAlert; The West Australian

40 per cent of homeless people in Australia are
workingThe Working
Life website reports on a recent National Union of Workers interview with
Lisa Heap (from the Australian Institute of Employment Rights) about her chapter
on insecure work in the new book Pushing
Our Luck.

One of Lisa's most shocking findings is that 40 per
cent of homeless people in Australia
are working.Many of our working homeless are at the pointy end of Australia's
insecure work crisis. They are working without guaranteed hours or income,
without any paid leave or security of ongoing employment.It's not fair that in
a wealthy country, such as Australia,
a person can have a job and still not be able to secure proper housing.Read more: The fightback for jobs we can
count on starts now

International Union NewsQatar: German journalists detainedIn the last edition of SafetyNet we reported on warnings from
the ITUC about the shocking conditions of migrant workers in Qatar in the
lead up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Recently, two German broadcasters were detained
by Qatari police as they attempted to investigate the plight of migrant
labourers building infrastructure for the games. Peter Giesel, a film-maker and
the head of a Munich-based production company, and his cameraman Robin Ahne
were detained for 27 hours after filming the working conditions of labourers
from the balcony of the Mercure Grand hotel in Doha.The pair were following up
on the Guardian's investigation into the conditions of many of the 1.2 million
migrant workers who have flooded into the country to work in the £100bn
(AUD$167bn)-plus construction boom before the football tournament.Read more: The
Guardian

Most recent
SUMER
Survey released by EU-OSHAThe 2010 results of the SUMER Survey
were recently released. The study, which
was introduced about 20 years ago, reports on workplace safety and health. The 2010 survey focused on trends over the
last 20 years, some of which include psychosocial and organisational risk,
exposure to carcinogens and more, according to the European Agency for Health
and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA).

The survey found there has been an increase
in noise exposure, an increase in people driving to work, an increase in women
being exposed to biological agents, and an increase in hostility between
workers. The study also reported that more workers are engaged in manual
handling and more workers are experiencing constrained and repetitive postures.
On the health issues, the 2010 SUMER
reported that young people and workers in the service sector are exposed to
physically demanding conditions, there are high exposures to physical and
chemical risks in the public service, and there are high exposures to chemicals
in small and medium enterprises; often, organisational measures are not taken
in these companies. According to the EU-OSHA news release, committees, worker
representation, risk assessment, and prevention plans are in place at the
enterprise level, but work organisations are not affected by these. Read more: EU-OSHA News release

WorkSafe news

WorkSafe Victoria
New Dangerous Goods code released Mr Gordon Rich-Phillips,
the Assistant Treasurer has approved the new Code of Practice for the Storage and Handling of Dangerous Goods 2013. This came into effect Friday, October
11, 2013. It replaces the old version of this Code (published December 8,
2000). The new Code provides practical guidance on how to comply with the Dangerous Goods (Storage and Handling)
Regulations 2012 (DG (S&H) Regulations 2012) for manufacturers,
suppliers and occupiers. It should be read in conjunction with the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 and the DG (S&H) Regulations 2012. More information on Dangerous Goodsthis page

Warning from regulator at harvest time
WorkSafe Victoria
last week issued a warning as the busy harvest season draws closer. WorkSafe
Health and Safety General Manager, Lisa Sturzenegger urged farmers and grain
growers to make safety the most important part of their planning. 'As the warmer
months are fast approaching, the hay season is about to get under way and
farmers are getting busier and preparing for the season ahead,' Ms Sturzenegger
said. 'But we know from past experience that it only takes a moment for a rushed
decision to turn into a tragic one.'

Ms
Sturzenegger said three recent tragic farm deaths since June, and the fact that
nine of the 18 fatalities this year occurred in regional Victoria, were a sad
reminder that farming was a high-risk occupation. In the release, WorkSafe
provides important 'safety tips' for surviving harvest time.WorkSafe
media release

Latest
edition of WorkSafe Safety SoapboxThe latest edition of WorkSafe's
newsletter came out this week. The newsletter has items on WorkSafe Week
finalists, particularly those in the construction industry; alerts; the new DG
code, and more.

Since the last edition (October 8), there were 22 incidents serious
enough to be reported to WorkSafe Victoria from the construction, utility, quarrying
and mining industries, including three workers who had at least one finger
amputated. There were also several lacerations, and incidents of materials
falling from height – which are a leading cause of serious injury. In one 'near
miss' incidenta metal stud (approximately three metres long) fell 29 storeys,
landed in a tree opposite the site and then fell further to the ground. Had
this landed on a worker or passer-by, this would have resulted in a fatality.
The list [pdf] can
be downloaded for more information. Safety
Soapbox

Safe Work Australia NewsSWA warns on musculoskeletal injuries
In a media release at the end Safe Work Australia Month, Chief Executive
Officer Rex Hoy urged all Australian workers to take care and avoid the
nation's most common work-related injury - musculoskeletal disorders.

'Every day over
200 people injure their joints, muscles or tendons at work seriously enough to
require at least one week off work,' said Mr Hoy. 'The impact on business is
also significant – typically these workers need five weeks off work. This
results in lost productivity for the organisation. While there may be costs
associated in providing healthy and safe workplaces, the costs of not doing so
are even greater.'

Injuries to the
back are the most common incidents with knee and shoulder injuries closely following.
These claims are most often associated with lifting or handling crates,
cartons, boxes, cases, drums, kegs, barrels, cans or handling people mainly in
a medical setting.Based on their severity and frequency of these injuries the
Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 (Australian Strategy) has
identified musculoskeletal disorders as a priority for improvement. The
Australian Strategy provides a 10 year national framework to drive improvements
in workplace health and safety in Australia.Read more: Don't let injury be a strain
in your workplaceManual Handling on OHS Reps@Work

Australia-wide fatalitiesAs at 21 October
2013, 132 Australian workers have been killed while at work. Of these, 30
occurred in Transport, postal & warehousing, 37 in Agriculture, forestry
& fishing, and 17 in Construction. Safe
Work Australia Work related fatalities

The August
monthly fatality report has not yet been released; the most recent is May
during which there were 13 work-related notifiable fatalities reported. For
further details see the Notified
Fatalities Monthly Report May 2013, which can be downloaded here.

SA: WorkCover to be 'scrapped'South Australia's Attorney-General and Industrial
Relations Minister John Rau has told the mediathe state's workers' compensation
scheme will be scrapped and replaced by a new model. He is reported to have
said WorkCover was 'buggered', and the government plans to decommission the
scheme and start again: 'It's been amended, patched over and fiddled with for
years and in the process has become so disliked, the only thing to do is to rub
it out and start again.'

A spokesperson
for the minister confirmed the quotes were accurate, and said more information
would be provided soon. The comments
followed the release last week of WorkCover's annual report, which showed its
unfunded liability still exceeded $1.36 billion.Sources: OHSAlert; ABC News Online

Useful materials

From Comcare: Stability of buildings and structures a safety alert to 'advise of the importance of ensuring wall stability of buildings and structures, including during construction, demolition or refurbishment works'. This alert is the result of arecent incident involving the spontaneous collapse of a wall at a federal workplace has highlighted the need for duty holders to monitor the integrity of the structures under their management in order to ensure healthy and safe workplaces. Readers will remember the tragic wall collapse in Melbourne, which killed three pedestrians.

From Safework South Australia: Managing hazards in small businesses - three step guide [pdf]. The publication assists small business owners and operators with identifying, assessing and controlling workplace hazards.

From EU-OSHA – 'Lessons in Life from Napo'. These wonderful animations cover a range of topics, and are now available in 18 languages. While they are aimed at children, they can be shown to adults who will find them amusing. A good resource, for example is Napo for Teachers. Read more

Farmer ordered to pay $290k compo to quad
bike victimA young British backpacker who was left a quadraplegic after an accident
on a Tasmanian farm has been paid $290,000 in compensation by her employer. The
young worker suffered a catastrophic brain injury when the bike rolled on her
while she was working on a King
Island farm in 2011. Then
21years old, she is now in a vegetative state with little prospect of
improvement.She spent several months in a coma before being flown home to Lancashire in March 2012.

Farmers David and Jocelyn Bowden were ordered by the Tasmanian Workers
Rehabilitation and Compensation Tribunal to pay the compensation, the maximum
amount allowable, earlier this month.Her family is also receiving compensation
payments to cover her salary and medical costs.

Last month, the Magistrates
Court fined Bowden $3,000, and farm manager Jason
Andrew Haines $1,200, after they pleaded guilty to failing to ensure their
employee wore a helmet while using the quad bike to herd cows.Source:ABC
News online

International News

USA:Outdated lead levels being examinedEven tiny amounts of the lead can cause high blood pressure and heart disease in adults, according to a new analysis released by the United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) in June. Yet the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not updated its general workplace standards for lead exposure since their establishment 35 years ago. As a consequence, thousands of Americans working in industries such aslead-battery manufacturing, renovation and automobile repair inhale or ingest lead dust at levels that public health experts now consider unsafe. The current workplace regulations generally prohibit exposures that result in employees accumulating more than 40 micrograms of lead in every decilitre of blood (mcg/dl) (this is equivalent to 1.93 µmol/L – how we measure the levels in Australia). If levels exceed 50 or 60 mcg/dl (2.42 or 2.90 µmol/L), the rules require "medical removal":temporarily pulling a worker from job duties, with full pay and benefits, until levels recede. [In Australia the levels are 1.45 µmol/L, or 0.8 µmol/L for female employees of reproductive capacity and removal from the job at 2. 41 µmol/Lfor females not of reproductive capacity and males; and much lower for females of reproductive capacity, and even lower if they are pregnant or breast-feeding.]

It appears that California is not waiting for the federal government to make a move; its Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is working toward tightening up its similarly outdated regulations on lead exposure.If California succeeds and demonstrates that its lead-related businesses can survive tougher regulations, it could set an influential precedent. Scientific American:Outdated lead exposure regulations threaten thousands of American workers

Chinese newsUnsafe coal mines will be closedThe Chinese government has said it will close more unqualified and
dangerous coal mines by 2015 as the country tries to improve the sector's
shocking safety record - 1,384 people were killed in coal mine incidents in
2012.

At least 2,000 small coal mines will be closed by the end of 2015, the
State Council, China's cabinet, said in a statement last week.The closures will
target coal mines with annual output of less than 90,000 tons that fail to meet
the safety rules, and mines based on substandard coal resources that are prone
to 'accidents', according to the statement.The government will also tighten the
development threshold by ending approval of construction on coal mines with
annual capacity of less than 300,000 tons.China Daily: China to shut coalmines in safety
overhaul

Rewards
offered to six regions to fight air pollution China announced last week it would give rewards amounting to 5 billion
yuan (AUSD $858 million) for curbing air
pollution in six regions where the problem is serious, underscoring government
concern about a source of public anger. The Finance Ministry said the regions
eligible for the rewards were Beijing and its
neighboring city of Tianjin, the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong, as well as the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Smog over northern cities in January generated widespread anger as did
the discovery of thousands of dead pigs in March in a river that supplies water
to the city of Shanghai. Protests over pollution in China are becoming common,
to the government's alarm. Authorities have invested in various projects to
fight pollution and even empowered courts to mete out the death penalty in
serious pollution cases.Source: Reuters